Death Groom
by Green Phantom Queen
Summary: A WWE version of 'Corpse Bride', Paul and Ashley are forced into marriage by their parents. But Ashley runs away to the forest to practice her vows. Unfortunately, by doing so, she will soon find out that she's married 'till death to us part'
1. Chapter 1

_Before I start this fic up, let me tell you a couple of things:_

_One: This is a parody of Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" I do not own the movie, nor do I own the characters I am using for it. I also do not own the songs, for they belong to Danny Elfman._

_Two: This is set during the late 19__th __century so most of the concepts shall be set in that time._

_Three: Most of the superstars in this story will be displayed ten years younger than their real age (Example: John Cena, who is 30 in real life, shall be 20)_

_Four: I hope you had fun reading this as I had writing it._

The Death Groom chapter 1

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

It was a cloudy day in the city, with a shroud of pale grey that casted the people with an everlasting groom that would not seem to clear up. The village people began to work through their daily lives, opening the window shutters of petrified wood and lighting the lamp posts by flames. It was impossible to imagine a drearier place in the world than the city of Brooklyn, New York, but that wasn't what everyone in the city thought.

It was the beginning of a new age in the year of 1843.

In one of the houses was a young woman with blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes who was around her late teens. She was dressed in a black blouse and white skirt with a blue satin ribbon wrapping her hair in a bun. She opened the shutters to her room, opening it up to the blotted clouds. In her closed hands was a black butterfly as she opened them and let it soar past the room and into the skies. She stared across the window, seeing the smoggy up sky, and the small insect fluttering away from the town.

"Ashley!" A shrill voice said throughout the building. "Get down here this instant!"

"I'm coming," Ashley said, rapidly brushing her hair. She grabbed the black dress shoes near the side of her bed and stepped down the stairs, one of the shoes now hanging loosely on her right foot. She didn't understand what was so important about this wedding; it would be the same thing she was going through for the past 7 years of her life. If she was just going to be miserable for the rest of her life after this moment, she might as well enjoy the ride till then.

An old wooden coach, driven by a white colt, down the dreary cobblestone road. The driver was someone you would never expect to be one. A young man around 20, with short brown hair and dazzling blue eyes was holding onto the reins. His attire consisted of a pair of brown tattered pants, and a green shirt that had been patched up so many times that it looked like it was camouflage. A dirt stained cap, made of the same fabric as the shirt was on his head.

The doors to the house burst open as a man and woman walked down the entrance. Their faces, although it looked like everyone else in the city, had sinister smiles as they looked at the driver who tipped his hat at them. The woman, with her fiery red hair, her black dress and pearl necklace looked almost, if not like, a movie star, even with the fur coat that was wrapped around her body. The man, was dressed in a black tuxedo, along with a black top hat and loafers had a grey necktie upon the white dress shirt tucked beneath the tuxedo. A long black scarf was wrapped around his neck.

As they neared the coach, the driver removed his hat, and bowed down to two, a soft smile was on his face. The couple did not return the smile, ignoring the greeting as he opened the door for them.

"Good day to you both," He said, placing the cap back on top of his head. "Sir Adam Copeland, Miss Amy Dumas, and I suppose your daughter..."

"For the hundredth time, John!" Adam snapped at the driver. "She is not our daughter! Just get it through your thick head and let us in!"

That part was true, by legal rights she wasn't. Ashley's parents had passed away when she was ten, and with no one to look after her, they were taken to the nearest people that they could find. The two really did not like raising her, thinking she was just a thorn in their flesh. But the papers were signed that until she was of legal age to marry, they had to take care of her. Moreover, it also said that the minute she was married, the savings from her parents' account would go directly to the guardians.

"I have been waiting for this day for so long, Adam." Amy said, fanning herself. "The only thing we have to do is get the girl to say our vows, and we're free from her forever! And we'll have all of that money to ourselves."

"That's true," Adam said, giving a sly peck on his love's cheek. "Then after that, we will be free to do whatever we want. For you see.."

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

**Amy:**

It's a beautiful day

**Adam:**

It's a rather nice day

**Amy:**

A day for a fabulous wedding

**Adam: **

A rehearsal dear, my dear, to be perfectly clear

**Amy:**

A rehearsal for a glorious wedding!

**Adam: **

Assuming nothing happens that we don't really know

**Amy:**

That nothing unexpected interferes with the show…

**Amy & Adam:**

And that's why every thing  
Every last little thing  
Every single tiny microscopic little thing must go…

**Amy:**

According to plan

**Adam: **

Our gal shall be married

**Amy:**

According to plan

**Adam: **

With her family carried

**Amy & Adam:**

Elevated to the heights of society…

**Amy:**

To the costumed balls!

**Adam: **

In the hallowed halls!

**Amy:**

Rubbing elbows with the finest!

**Adam:**

Having crumpets with her highness!

**Amy & Adam:**

We'll be there, we'll be seen  
Having tea with the queen  
We'll forget everything  
That we've ever, ever been!

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

Ashley quickly ran down to the coach, giving off a small wave to John before she got in. She looked at her parents with some disgust as she sat down, upset that they were the ones who decided to host this wedding.

"It's about time," Adam said as Ashley shut the door. "You know how important this wedding is!"

"I know," Ashley said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She rather had been in the cemetery doing renovation to the tombstones than go to a wedding. At least there, the only people she can talk wouldn't have to back sass at her.

John grabbed the reins of the horse, and in no time, the horse started to trot gracefully upon the road. Many of the village girls stopped to look at the driver, sighing at his beautiful figure. John just ignored them, his eyes filled with a soft sorrow, as if he had gone through something traumatizing in his life.

"Why are you making me do this?" Ashley moaned. "I hate dressing up in this girly stuff, and I don't _**want**_ to be married!"

"You're going to be married, whether you like it or not, Ashley." Amy said, fanning herself once more. "We raised you for the last 7 years of our lives ever since you were ten and is this how you treat us?"

"You could at least make me drop off this marriage," Ashley muttered to herself. "I don't even know the guy I'm marrying."

"Least we have _**that**_ in our favor," Adam said with a sneer.

Suddenly, there was a loud coughing outside. Ashley cringed a bit at the noise. For the past couple of months, John had gotten immensely ill and the medicine for his sickness was too expensive to pay for (even with that excuse, they would not get it for him). Despite the whole year that he had been serving them, Ashley was still nervous whenever John was coughing; it felt like he could die and fall off the carriage, and then the horses would trample over his dead body.

"Shut up with that coughing, John!" Amy yelled at the driver and the coughing stopped.

Ashley sighed and buried her face in her hands, the thought of being buried alive in the cemetery sounding better than sharing nuptials. _This is not going to turn out well... _She thought.

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

Sara Callaway, along with her husband Mark Callaway, or as he was known around the village as the "Undertaker" for personal reasons, saw through the mansion windows of the carriage stopping in front of the entrance way. Ashley was the first to step out, placing a black veil upon her blonde hair. Amy, not far behind, snatched back the veil and scolding her for covering up her face like that.

"Mark," Sara said, placing a hand upon the windowsill. "What if the marriage doesn't go out well?"

"We're going to be okay," Mark said, looking back at an old portrait hanging on the walls. The portrait was of a young girl with flowing blonde hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a red dress with lace at the end of the sleeves and hemming. In her hands were a bouquet of white roses and a golden locket in the shape of a heart. Despite the idea they had of getting rid of the painting, none of them had the heart to do so. It was a picture of their eldest daughter Chasey, who died recently when she had drowned in the lake. Her body was recovered, but it was too late; even with the royal blood line that the Callaways carried, they didn't have the money to help. Instead, they had to bury her in the ground, the last thing they could do for her.

"But," Sara said, almost in tears. "I don't want another of our children to die! I don't want Gracie..." She literally broke down, sobbing upon her husband's chest. Mark placed a firm hand on his wife's shoulder as to help her calm down. "There are a lot of things that could go on...after all, Mark..."

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

**Sara:  
**It's a terrible day****

Mark:  
Now don't be that way

**Sara:**  
It's a terrible day for a wedding.

M**ark:**  
It's a sad, sad state of affairs we're in,

**Sara:**  
That has led to this ominous wedding.

**Mark:**  
How could our family have come to this?

**Sara and Mark:**  
To marry off our son to the nouveau-rich.

**Sara:**  
They're so common,

**Mark:**  
So coarse.

**Sara** (sadly)**:**  
Oh, it couldn't be worse!

**Mark**  
It couldn't be worse? I'm afraid I disagree.  
They could be in land-rich bankrupt aristocracy,  
without a penny to their name...just like you...and me.

**Sara:**  
Oh, dear.

**Sara and Mark:**  
And that's why everything, every last little thing,  
every single tiny microscopic little thing must go...

**Sara:**  
According to plan,

**Mark:**  
Our son will wed.

**Sara:**  
According to plan,

**Mark**  
With our family lead,

**Sara and Mark:**  
From the depths of deepest poverty,

**Sara:**  
To the noble realm,

**Mark:**  
Of our ancestors.

**Sara and Mark:**  
And who'd have guessed in a million years that our son, with the face

**Mark** (sarcastically):  
of a playboy in disgrace,

**Sara and Mark**  
Would provide our ticket to our rightful place?

**0 0 0 0 0 0 **

In the upper floor of the mansion, the son, Paul London Callaway was preparing to get ready to meet with his wife. He was around the age of his late teens also, possibly 17, with black hair that had gone down to his shoulders, dark olive skin, a black tuxedo and tie, white dress shirt, black tuxedo pants, and polished black shoes. He never had a relationship with a girl before; he was afraid that this woman would hate his appearance, likewise to his parents' fair skin.

"Paul," A rough voice said, scaring away the thoughts from the Latino's mind. Paul turned around, seeing Mark's younger brother, Kane staring at him. The groom to be gave a soft smile as he stood up. Kane was living with Mark for since anyone could remember after both of their parents died in a fire. However, Kane was different; his father came from royal aristocracy, while his mother, who was also Mark's, was from the lower class. This caused him to be known as a traitor to both sides because of his heritage.

Right now, he was already dressed in a tuxedo with blood red lines streaming down through it, a white rose, unusual for him was pinned to the suit as a corsage. He was wearing black tuxedo pants, a larger version of Paul's, and black dress shoes. He smiled at the young husband to be, something that Paul still had not gotten used to after all these years.

"Hey there Kane," He said with a small bow. "So, has my bride appeared?"

"She has come, along with her surrogate parents of hers," Kane muttered. "Well, I must get down and get ready for the family. The last family that saw me, they immediately fled."

"Right," said Paul as he started to put a corsage right on his tuxedo. He didn't like fancy jewelry, but Sara and Mark insisted that he would wear it on the day of the wedding. It was of a small bouquet of roses encrusted with small emeralds, diamonds and rubies that could've saved them from their poverty; but was instead the gift that would bring two families together.

Paul only sighed as he straightened out his coat. With one more look in the mirror, he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

"And remember," Amy said to Ashley. "Under no circumstance are you two suppose to meet."

"Yes, mom." Ashley said with some sarcasm. "I'll stay away from him. Can we just go now?"

"Right," Amy said, "If we don't go in, it'll be one minute longer for us to wait until you're married after all.."

**0 0 0 0 0 0 **

**Amy:**

Marriage is a partnership. A little tit-for-tat.  
You'd think a lifetime watching us might have taught her that.

**0 0 0 0 0 0 **

"You're not married," Ashley interrupted. "You've been boyfriend and girlfriend for the last 7 years and you said you weren't going to marry until after I do."

"Shut the fuck up!" Adam said, slapping Ashley across the face. At this John got off the horse and stood in between the two.

"That's enough," He said in a serious tone. "Just finish that little thing you were doing before and get going." Ashley looked a bit in shock. Ever since John appeared at her doorstep just one year ago, she never saw him stand up to her father like that.

Suddenly, John started to cough harshly. Specks of blood came from the sides of his mouth. Ashley was very frightened every time this happened. It was like every time he coughed, he was losing a bit of his life, and there was nothing that she could do about it.

"Stop coughing right now!" Amy snapped. "Your poor man's blood is ruining our clothes!"

Adam didn't say anything, looking a bit frightened a bit seeing John's poor state of being. Suddenly he shook his head to get rid of his trance. Being nice, he removed his scarf and placed it around John's neck. It seemed to do the trick, he stopped coughing and started to breathe normally again.

"There." Adam muttered. "Now wait inside the carriage, we'll be back in a few hours."

"Yes sir." John said softly. He looked at Ashley and patted her shoulder, that soft smile creeping up his lips. "Good luck Ashley, you shouldn't waste an opportunity like this."

"John," said Ashley nervously. "What happened before you came to us?"

John sighed sadly, tears almost coming out of his eyes. As he opened his mouth, Adam interrupted him.

"Let's go, Ashley!" Adam said as John started to go back to the carriage.

"Coming," Ashley said, following her parents up the steps of the house.

**0 0 0 0 0 0 **

**Adam:**  
Everything must be perfect

**Amy:**  
Everything must be perfect

**Adam**  
Everything must be perfect

**Sara and Mark:**  
Everything must be perfect, perfect,

**Adam, Amy, Sara and Mark:**  
That's why everything, every last little thing,  
every single tiny microscopic little thing must go...According to plan!

**0 0 0 0 0 0 **

Amy pulled upon the knocker as Kane opened the door. He looked down at the three people and motioned them to enter.

As Ashley entered, her eyes wandered at the whole scenery. The floor was white marble that stretched upon the whole main hall disappearing upon the closed doors of many rooms. A black spiral staircase was at the far corner, having a wooden railing. All around were suits of armor, paintings of the ancestors of the house, Gothic windows and black faded satin curtains, and cobwebs sticking at many of the areas. To Ashley, it was a dream come true.

"Tacky, isn't it?" Adam said, out of the blue. He looked at Kane with look of pride. "Who the hell designed this place, Frankenstein?"

"No," Kane grumbled. "The person who designed this was actually a descendant of Victor Frankenstein; he was paid a mighty fee for helping to build our wonderful abode."

Mark and Sara, along with their daughter Gracie soon came down the stairs, both dressed int heir finest attire. Sara had her hair in beautiful curled ringlets, wearing a faded blue dress down to ankles and high heels. Her husband Mark was in his usual attire, well usual being a black trench coat and pants, along with boots and his signature black fedora. Gracie, who was holding onto her mother's arm, had her blonde hair in two pigtails, and had a dress of bright blue velvet on with a satin ribbon around her neck.

"Sara and Mark Callaway: Lord Adam Copeland and Lady Amy Dumas," Kane said introducing the two families.

"Um, excuse me." Ashley said, going up to Kane. "Who exactly are you?"

"He's my younger brother, Kane." Mark said, not caring if this information was going to be said. He then looked at Lita with some disgust at her appearance. "Well," He said. "If my son is going to marry the likes of you, he'd be better off with a prostitute."

Amy's face was filled abhorrence by that and Adam snarled looking like he was going to punch Mark right in the face. Both Kane and Ashley snickered at the comment while Sara jabbed her elbow right into her husband's ribs.

"Mark!" She said in a loud whisper. "Not in front of our daughter!" Mark looked down at Gracie who was staring back at him with wide eyes.

"Sorry," He said, gaining composure. "I meant to say that if you had more poise, elegance and etiquette then I could consider you to marry Paul."

"You're not marrying her," Adam said. He then pointed to Ashley, "You're letting your son marry _**that**_ thing!"

"Hey!" Ashley said, feeling insulted. "I have feelings too, you know!"

"Excuse me," Sara said, interrupting the conversation. "But we must hurry this up, so all of us will be have our tea at the West dining room." She turned to Kane. "Will you please escort our guests there?"

Kane nodded and soon took Adam and Amy down the hallway while all three of the Callaways soon went en suite. Once they were no longer seen in her range of vision, Ashley sighed in relief; if there was one thing she hated more than dressing up, it was tea and constant chatter. Instead of going, she decided to stay and sit at the antique piano near the stairs.

It was an amazing model; the instrument's lid being a dark ebony and elevated, so Ashley was able to see all the hammers and strings of the invention. She loved playing the piano at home; it was the only thing that her parents considered good of her. Near the opening was a small, narrow vase that had in it a wilted carnation. Seating herself down, Ashley played an entire scale, lightly stroking the keys as she did. No one would mind, her parents wouldn't care as long as she didn't make a mistake.

Then, she closed her eyes and began to play. Her fingers danced upon the ivories as her thoughts started to soar through the keys. She couldn't recall the last time she played something like this, and yet it felt that it was a good time to do so. As she continued to play, she did not notice the light footsteps that started to come down the stairs. She was so busy being entranced by the music that she was making to notice. The melody started to become sadder and sadder, as Ashley became more lost in the feelings and emotions of her music. It wasn't until she was near the climax of the piece that she caught something in the corner of her eye.

"AHHH!" She screamed turning around. She stared right into the eyes of a man around her age with tan skin, black hair and brown eyes; for those few seconds they stared at each other, nearly lost in each other's eyes. Ashley then shook her head as she turned around.

"I'm sorry," She said. "I didn't mean to startle you. I didn't know that I would get an audience."

"That's okay," said Paul, seating himself, near her. "I didn't know my wife could play so beautifully." He placed his hand in hers. "I'm Paul London Callaway, and you are?"

"Ashley Marie Massaro." said the woman.

"That's a beautiful name." said Paul, smiling at her. When he saw the piano, he sighed sadly. "I wish I could play, but..."

"Your parents didn't think it was a good idea?" Ashley said, suggesting her idea.

"No," He answered. "It's so that they aren't reminded of their deceased daughter. She loved to hear our mom play the piano, but things haven't been the same after she fell in the lake."

Ashley gasped at that part; she heard the the Callaways—minus the son—were in tremendous financial suffering, but she never knew that they had two daughters. She bowed her head and stared at the piano keys. "I'm sorry," She said.

"Don't be." Paul said, patting her shoulder. "She's in a better place; one filled with sunshine, rainbows, and rabbits. She can always wake up to a beautiful sunny sky, and all the rabbits would proclaim her as 'Chasey, Princess of the Bunnies'."

Ashley looked up at him, and their eyes truly met. Chocolate brown onto ocean blue gazed and mixed with one another, as Paul placed his hands on Ashley's once more. Their noses were so close that they were barely touching, as they leaned in closer...

"What impropriety is this?!" A shrill voice said to awaken from their trance. The bride and groom looked at the person who yelled at them in surprise, both of them seeing Lady Dumas with anger on her face.

"Damn it." Ashley said staring at Amy. "Before you say anything, I didn't start it."

"I don't care who did!" She cried out. "It's one minute until the wedding rehearsal and you're not ready!"

Ashley snarled at this; what she hated even more than tea parties was being told that she was not ready and being told how long she had left by her guardians.

"Pastor Michaels is already prepared," Dumas said, her voice less harsh and less shrill. "Let us go upstairs and rehearse at once."

Knowing that both of them could not escape the fate that was given to them, the soon to be couple started to follow Lady Dumas down the hallway into the room; being drawn like nails to magnet.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Well, that's it for now! Read and review please!


	2. Chapter 2

_I love to thank everyone who reviewed this story and took the time to read it. Just having those spare minutes to read this has helped me a lot._

_And just as promised, here is the next chapter!_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Death Groom chapter 2

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

"Paul London Callaway!" said Pastor Michaels to the groom. "From the beginning, again!"

Pastor Michaels, adorned with the religious robe and crook with his right hand, was reading a book of wedding vows from his left. "With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I ask you to be mine. Now do it again!"

Ashley crossed her hands across her chest, her candle in her right hand. It had already been three hours into rehearsal, and she was getting angrier and angrier by the minute. She looked back at Adam and Amy who weren't even noticing her suffering as they chatted silently to themselves. The Callaways were watching in interest, the daughter was asleep in Sara's lap. Kane stood near the door, his head bowed low and his hands across his chest as if he were asleep. Lucky him, she thought.

Right now, she and Paul were at a practice session of the wedding. A table that had a large candle glowing a small flame, a goblet of wine. It was an empty room inside the mansion on the second floor, originally as a guest room. Behind the pastor was a large window that had the view of the whole city. Ashley gazed past Michaels enough to see a couple of the buildings that stood underneath the murky, grey sky. She wondered what John was doing, since he wasn't allowed to go see the wedding rehearsal.

"Right." Paul said as he walked up to the makeshift alter. "With this candle..." He tried lighting his candle, but the wick did not catch flame. "This candle..." No effect. "This candle!"

The parents of the two soon to be wed were talking to each other. Ashley blushed in embarrassment; she really wished she wasn't here. She wished she was like Gracie, young, innocent and ignorant of what everything that was going on.

"Ahem," said Michaels, ignoring the chatter. "Let us continue."

"Yes sir." Paul replied. "With this candle," He placed the candle on the lighted one, with it finally be lit. "I will..." Suddenly the flame blew out, everyone moaned of the boy's clumsiness, Ashley complained the most.

"Continue!" Michaels snapped.

Suddenly a doorbell was ringing in the mansion. Kane woke up from his slumber and walked to the door, grasping onto the aging hinges. It squeaked as they opened, revealing the visitor.

"Let's pick it up from the candle," said Shawn in a tired and annoyed tone.

Kane came up to Mark, whispering in his ear. "A Lady Perez has come to visit." He walked away to close the door as Lady Perez came near him. She was a beautiful site, in her late twenties, with bright red hair, almost a similar shade to Amy's, curled down in ringlets showing her delicate face. Her fair skin was adorned in a lovely pink dress, a brooch encrusted with a star sapphire was on her bosom. White hand gloves that were frilled with lace covered her tender fingers as her blue eyes gazed upon the elder Callaway.

"I haven't a head of dates," She said politely. "But it seems I'm a day early." When Ashley heard her say that, she felt like throwing up in her mouth.

Mark turned to Sara. "Is she from your side of the family?"

"I can't recall," Sara said, shaking her head. "Kane, can you be a dear and give a seat for Lady Perez?"

"Please," said Perez. "Call me Melina, everyone calls me that." Kane came with a small wooden stool as Melina sat down. She looked at the three at the fake altar. "Do carry on."

"Let's try it again, shall we?" Michaels repeated. "If you please, Sir Callaway."

"Yes," said Paul, not knowing that Ashley had lighted his candle with hers. He raised his left hand, the candle was held in his right.

"Right." said Michaels.

"Right." Paul repeated.

"RIGHT!" Michaels bellowed, causing Paul to toss the lighted candle in the air. Fortunately, he was able to grab it in his left hand, and his right hand was now raised.

"Right," said Paul, taking a deep breath. "With this...this...."

Shawn sighed and shook his head. "Hand."

"With this hand," Paul said taking Ashley's hand in his, walking up to the altar...one step...two steps...three..."I..will.." He stopped when his waist hit the table on the fourth step, almost knocking the goblet of wine down.

"Three steps!" said Michaels. "Three! Can you not count?! Do you not wish to be married?!"

"No!" Paul said. "No, I don't!"

"You don't want to marry?" Ashley said, praying that this would be her ticket out, all the while Mark slapped his hand to his head and Adam just snickered.

"No," answered Paul, shaking his head. "I meant I do not _**not**_ want to be married..." Ashley gave out a small sigh in defeat. "It means I really want to...ow!" Michaels had used his crook upon Paul's head to give him a nice bashing.

"Pay attention!" Michaels snapped at him. "Have you even remembered to bring the ring?!

"I have!" said Paul, pulling it from the pocket from his tuxedo. A golden ring, although looking fancy, was dirty and battered. Paul held the ring with his second finger and thumb of his right hand. Suddenly, he pressed too hard, and it rocketed into the air, bouncing into the floor like a ball, rolling right under Amy's dress.

"This boy does not want to be married," Shawn said with some sarcasm as Paul ran to catch the ring. To his embarrassment, he closed his eyes as his hand went right under Amy's dress. Unknown to him, he dropped his candle as he looked back to Ashley.

"Got it." He said. His words were interrupted as Amy's dress was soon caught in flames. Adam gave Paul a quick death glare as he tried to stomp down the growing blaze. Ashley looked around as people started to gather to stop the fire as she slowly started to creep away. As she was about to leave, Kane's hand was on her shoulder.

"Don't you dare," He said in a rough voice. Ashley just snarled, turning her head away from him.

Meanwhile, everyone else was trying their best in vain to stop the fire as Shawn closed his book and sighed. It wasn't until Melina, now holding onto the goblet of wine, poured it onto the fire that everything stopped. The guardians looked at Melina with some awe as she delicately placed the goblet back onto the table.

"Enough!" Shawn said coming up to the parents. "This wedding cannot take place until this groom is ready!" He turned to Paul, walking up to the Latino as the Callaway started to shrink into a corner.

"Young man," Shawn said icily. "Learn your vows."

Paul was about to say something, but Ashley beat him to it. She kicked the door wide open, which caused everyone to look at her.

"I've had it!" She screamed. "I can't stand my parents, this wedding, and especially him!" She gave a glare to Paul, looking as she wanted to strangle him.

"You shut up, you bitch!" Adam said, yelling back. "You are not going to talk to your parents like that..."

"WHO CARES?!" Ashley said, her voice echoing through the empty halls of the mansion. "For the past 7 years, I've lived with you guys who aren't even considered good guardians! You've treated me like dirt and now I'm getting my revenge." She turned away, her hands on her hips and an angry look on her face. "I'm not taking part with this wedding, and the law states that until I'm married, you still have to take care of me, and you cannot have access to my savings. And as for the Callaways; I wish you good luck raising that idiotic son of yours."

She looked at Kane for a moment who shared that same expression on her face.

"Is this true?" He asked her. "Do you really hate us?"

"Put it this way," said Ashley. "If my parents had half the mind to care for me, if Paul here had half the courage he doesn't have right now, and if my life wasn't as half as fucking awful as it was...In a way..." She took a deep breath before she yelled, "I HATE BEING HERE!" Once again, the whole hallway echoed, the vibrations of the yell made the mansion shake a bit.

Suddenly, she felt something tugging against her dress. Ashley looked down seeing Gracie, who had most likely had been awake when the fire had started, rubbing her eyes with her other hand. She looked at the older with wide eyes as if not to leave.

Ashley felt some guilt as she gave Gracie a small hug. "I'm sorry," She said. "I don't belong here, good bye." She then started to walk away, once she could not be seen by anyone, a small tear fell from her face.

"Bye-bye," Gracie said, waving to nothing.

As Kane closed the door, Melina walked up to the terrified Paul. "Well," She said with a small sneer. "She's quite the catch, isn't she?"

Paul did not respond as he stood there, staring at the open door, and of Ashley running away from him.

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

Ashley looked at her reflection in the waters upon the bridge she was standing on. A cold breeze appeared in the air as she looked back at the entrance of town. She had asked John for a personal favor to take her out on the best route to exit out of the town. She sighed as she threw a nearby pebble into the water, the stone rippling the water and her reflection.

"Paul," She said sadly. "You must think I'm some sort of bitch for acting like that. I just can't stand this wedding. I only wanted to be free and..." She sighed once more. "This day couldn't get any worse..."

"Hear ye! Hear ye!" Cried the town crier Michael Cole. "Rehearsal is growing in suspense, bride causes chaos by storming off!" Ashley gritted her teeth at the sound of the bell that was clamped in his right hand as he turned to her. "Wedding shall not start till the bride returns! I say, wedding will not start until she returns!" With that Ashley walked down the bridge into the forest, glad that the cries were getting softer and softer with each step.

Once she was far enough that the cries were mute, she sighed once more. "It shouldn't be difficult to say a couple of vows," She muttered. "If I can do it, then so could that idiot..."

"With this hand..." She said "I will take your wine...No...that's not it..."

On and on she walked toward the trees, not knowing where she was heading off to, trying to prove once and for all that she could do the vows. She could not notice the ravens that started to flock upon the tree branches, she was focused too on memorizing the words to her vow to see them.

"With this hand," She said, raising her right hand up. "I will cup your..." She placed her hands near her chest; which made her jump back a bit. She sighed and continued to walk again. It was after about another ten minutes or so that she reached a large tree with twisted branches, and ravens as black as night were watching her.

"With this...candle..." She said. "I will...I will set my own mother on fire..." She smiled a bit at that, recalling the shocked look on Amy's face but sighed once more. She looked at her ring that she had kept in her dress, pulling out so she could see. She was supposed to give it to Paul for the rehearsal and wedding; she felt like getting rid of it, but then she stood up once more and with confidence.

She lifted her right hand up. "With this hand I will lift your sorrows, your cup will never empty for I will be your wine."

She went to a slender tree whose leaves were blossomed with snow, imagining the figure of Sara Callaway. "Why Miss Callaway, you look as elegant as a Snow Fairy, if I do say so myself."

She turned around, seeing a large oak, with its bark still covered from the frost, seeing in her mind the father. "And you Sir Callaway, you look as strong and fierce like a lion. What's this? You want me to call you Undertaker? I would be glad to call you that..."

Finally she went to a small sapling in the ground and knelt down to gently touch the branches. "And you dear Gracie, I will be your older sister, call me whatever you want me to be."

She broke off a piece from a nearby branch and, pretending it was a candle, placed its tip upon a fallen stick. "With this candle, I will light your way in darkness."

"With this ring," She said looking at a root sticking out of the snow. "I ask you to be mine!" She placed the ring upon the root and stepped back, glad that she was able to recite all of the verses. Nothing happened after a while, the whole world seemed to have stood still.

"Well," She said. "That was fun, now to..." Suddenly the roots snatched her arm, pulling it down with it in the snow! Ashley gasped as she pulled it out with all her might, the roots also trying to pull it back with it. Finally, with a burst of strength, Ashley was set free, realizing the root was a whole arm! It was dressed from a tuxedo sleeve as she saw the rest of its body slowly rising up. With its other arm, it started to rise from the snowy ground, as Ashley saw a bed of blonde hair, or at least it was hair, starting to appear.

The figure began to fully rise until it was standing right in front of her, the light of the full moon revealing what he looked like. It was a man, with a black tuxedo, pants and dress shoes, albeit they were ripped, faded and tattered. A wilted white rose corsage was shown on his left pocket and his pale skin had a small tinge of green upon the flesh. A small slit was exposed in his chest, and a rusty chain was around his neck.

He lifted his gaze to Ashley's, his eyes a dull blue as he whispered, "I do."

With that Ashley pulled away from the man's grip and started to run. She didn't know where to run to, but it had to be a place where that person couldn't find her. She suddenly tripped across an old root and fell right into the snow, stars circling across her head. She shook her head to clear it as she saw the man slowly coming up to her. She ran once more, trying to escape the inevitable and bumped into a tree, feeling the impact. She turned around, her vision was a bit blurry, but she was able to see that man still coming up to her, his left arm outstretched.

Ashley hit her head once more before moving out of the way of the tree, thinking about how to get out of the forest alive. She soon reached down to the area of a frozen river, her feet unable to move due to the frictionless surface. As she tried to run, Ashley looked back to see the same person coming up to her, but he was unaffected by the icy floor. With a burst of strength, she got through the ice and back into the bridge which lead to the entrance to town.

Ravens were flocked upon the rails of the bridge as Ashley took a deep breath. The skies were darkened with black clouds, and the wind started to moan harshly. The cawing of ravens started to reach a crescendo as the sky started to become darker by their wings. Ashley took a deep breath looking in front of her to see if the strange person was gone.

"That was close," She whispered as she relaxed her whole body from the shock. She was about to head back for the village where the same man from before appeared face to face with her. Their noses were barely touching as he walked up to her. She took a step back once more, but she was blocked by the rail of the stone bridge, making escape impossible. All around the two were the sounds and sights of the ravens, cawing and flapping their wings as the man placed his icy hands upon Ashley's shoulders.

"I now pronounce you man and wife," He whispered in a raspy voice. "You may kiss the bride."

Just as Ashley felt her life flash through her eyes, they began to close, as she collapsed from shock.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Here it is! The next chapter of our story! Read and Review everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

_Once again, thank you all! Because of you people more than 100 people have read this story! I'm also glad for the people who also give their time to review them!_

_As promised, here's the next chapter!_

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The Death Groom chapter 3

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"I must say," said a female voice. "You did it this time, you caught a nice live one!"

"Oh dear," said a shy male voice. "She must've fainted on the way down, Maria, I hope she's all right!"

Ashley stirred awake, seeing two people staring down at her. One was a young woman, about 15 in Ashley's eyes, with long hair going down to her shoulders and a white dress. She looked very kind, and cute with those wide eyes and soft voice. The only thing strange about her was that she was floating in mid air, as if she was a ghost. The other person was the same man that had followed her in the forest!

"Are you alright, love?" The man said, lightly tapping Ashley's cheek. The frozen touch made Ashley wide awake as she stood up. She stepped back, seeing everyone else around her. Through her eyes, they were all ghastly looking, many of them skeletons, some of them have flesh rotting away and their eyes were dull.

"She's so cute!" said Maria, as she tried to grab onto Ashley's hand. The young girl could only feel shivers upon her own flesh when the apparition's own arm went through her.

"Look at her!" Said one man leaning close to Ashley. "Wonder if she has a sister I can have fun with..." Ashley looked at the man strangely, he was in his teens and had lots of muscles, blonde hair and a big nose.

"Who the heck are you?" She asked nervously.

The man chuckled. "I am known as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Triple H for short, died trying to save my friend Shawn."

It was at this time Ashley finally took a look at the place she was in. It was very lively with many hues of red, yellow and green making it resemble a party. It looked like a pub with many bartenders mixing up drinks for the customers from different bottles. There was music playing in the background at a stage, it sounded tropical; much better than the stuff she heard back the town. All of the people were drinking voraciously, and it looked like everyone was having a good time. Well, except her of course.

"A toast!" Said one man, with blonde hair, his eyes covered with black sunglasses raising a goblet of red liquid to another. He had a white buttoned shirt, black pants, and small fangs around the corner of his mouth. The other man was large, not as large as Triple H was with a dragon tattoo on his back, dressed in high aristocratic clothing that consisted of a white gentleman blouse, a black coat, pants and shoes. A large gash was near the area of his heart but it didn't phase him at all. The two raised their glasses as they looked at Ashley.

"To the newlyweds!" The other said as they both took a sip from their glasses.

"Um," Ashley said to Hunter, pointing to the men. "Who are those two?"

"The one on the right," Hunter said. "Is Dave Batista, the other..." He pointed to the left. "Is the one known as Gangrel."

"Gangrel?" Ashley said softly, her eyes widening in surprise. Suddenly, the look on her face became anger as she clenched her fists. She started to walk over to where the men were toasting, the room starting to become softer and quieter with every step. The music had stopped playing, the people have stopped feasting and celebrating; everything was a total standstill.

Ashley picked up one of the knives that was on the bar (which was used for the snacks that the people in the pub wanted to eat), placing the blade near her skirt. The only sound that was made, was the soft tapping noise that her dress shoes made upon the scuffed floor. Gangrel noticed this and looked at her, although his expression for a joyous wedding shower wasn't altered until Ashley placed the blade near his neck. Batista tried to stop her, but she gave him a mighty death glare that made him step back.

"Um," Gangrel said, sweat starting to form. "Are you going to kill me just because I'm giving some blessings and good fortunes for you and your husband Brian?"

"Brian?" Ashley asked him. "Who's Brian?"

"I am." Said a small voice from behind, as Ashley turned around. The man from earlier came up, what shocked her the most was the ring on his left finger! A smile was on his face as he embraced her. "You said your vows so well; now we are to be together till death do us part, my love. The minute you placed the ring on my finger, I knew we were destined to be forever."

"Hey!" Ashley said, pushing Brian off of her. "Don't distract me!" She looked back to Gangrel and dropped the knife on the table; the blade sticking onto the wood. Instead she gave him a fierce back hand, the sound of the smack echoed across the pub. Everyone gasped at the woman; no one in the living realm had ever decided to lay violence upon the dead before.

Gangrel felt the area where Ashley's hand left its mark, anger already showing on his face. "Well excuse me, you slut! If you didn't want to be married then you shouldn't have--" Suddenly, a hand was on his throat as Ashley threw him across the table, many of the drinks started to shatter into glass on contact as the table was reduced into splinters. Many shards of the glasses had stuck to his pale skin, and his forehead was bleeding very badly.

"That's enough!" said Batista, pushing the two away from each other. "This is no time to be fighting!"

"Knock it off right now!" Said the head chef of the bar. He was dressed in a poncho and a sombrero on his head (to Ashley, the only thing missing was the mustache). He lifted Gangrel to one of the not broken tables, and laid him on his back.

"Medics!" The man cried out. "I need medics!" A couple of the undead began to crowd around the two, gossiping like a bunch of old women. "I said medics! Not critics!"

Batista released his grip on the two, walking back into the darker parts of the bar. Ashley then walked to her hurt victim, ignoring the whispering and gossip of the undead around her.

"Calm down, calm down everyone." she said, ripping off part of the sleeves of her dress. "I got this." Delicately using her fingers as forceps, she began to pluck off the pieces of glass that were now stuck to the man's body, earning a cry of pain for each one.

"Take it like a man, you bitch." She said, wrapping one of her tattered sleeves around his forehead. Once the fabric was wrapped around the head, she got one of the drinks that had ice in it (hopefully not dry ice, she thought to herself), and using the other piece of cloth, she wrapped the ice in it, and placed it right on Gangrel's head, to prevent the wound from swelling.

"Happy now?" Ashley said sarcastically, turning away. "Because that's the last kind act I would do to someone like you."

"Hey chica," The bartender said, shaking Ashley's hand. "The name's Eddie Guerrero, welcome to my little piece of heaven I like to call Latino Heat." He spread out his arms, to make it more extravagant. "Thank you for your small at of kindness to our amigo Gangrel; even if it was your fault."

"Why is it called Latino Heat?" Ashley asked Eddie.

"Because the heat is on baby!" He said as music started to play again. As on cue, the whole places became lively once more and everyone began to party, except Gangrel of course. He was already sitting down on one of the chairs, nursing the wound Ashley gave him. Ashley sighed as she walked through the crowd of people dancing, sitting across from the man.

"Hey," She said, not looking toward Gangrel. "I'm sorry about attacking you, didn't know that a person like me hurting someone like you was so shocking." She sighed a bit, twiddling her fingers. "And the only reason I did that was because, you reminded me of my father, and how everyone in the village, um, looked just like you... And, it was because of that I lashed out." She looked at him nervously, not keeping eye contact with him. "And after what my father did to me for the past 7 years after my parents died..."

"Eh," Gangrel muttered, sipping from his goblet. "If you're talking about Copeland, I understand. That little jackass got so unruly after what happened..." And that's where he left it off, using his free hand to put the icepack onto the wound.

Ashley sighed as she saw a waitress with a small tray of drinks pass by and picked one up. It was a glowing green liquid, a nice icy fog was starting to rise from the glass along with a cute little umbrella on it. Taking a sip, Ashley was amazed at the taste; it was cool, minty and sweet, as if she had taken a peppermint candy and combined it with ice water.

"This is amazing!" She said, a smile on her face. She took another sip, and looked at Gangrel with a more positive attitude. "What is this drink?"

Gangrel chuckled at the look of the girl, his fangs gleaming through the glass. "Latino Heat's specialty, El Manana. Every person who tries if for the first time gets hooked to it. And no kidding; every time a person tries it a second time, the taste is always different, no person gets the same flavor consecutively. Since your's is green, then the flavor must have been fresh mint."

"It was." Ashley said, gulping down the rest of the drink. "I need to have another one now!" She said, her voice becoming bubbly with each word she spoke. Suddenly, she was embraced by two arms around her neck. A faint shiver was down his spine as she looked up.

"I know you'd like to love it here!" Brian said above her, resting his head upon her bed of hair. He turned to Eddie, who was working one some of the appetizers. "Three 'Tomorrows' on me, Eddie!"

"Yes sir, esse!" came the reply. In an instant, Eddie had dropped his knives, and started to prepare some drinks for the newlyweds.

Brian looked at Gangrel with a small smile, as he played a bit with the little umbrella from the glass. "Wow," He said. "I didn't know you were able to chat so well with another woman after what happened 15 years ago."

"Don't remind me," Gangrel replied, drinking from his own goblet. "Your wife was too perky from that drink, I don't think she realizes you're on top of her. Green colored el Mananas have a tendency to wear off quicker than the others."

At this Ashley's face soon changed from happiness, to a bit of shock as she looked back at Brian, who had placed the little umbrella in her hair. "Great," She said. "The happy feeling is gone now." She removed the umbrella, twirling it with her fingers with a moan. "I'm going to be Living Miserable Girl for the rest of my life!"

Eddie soon came to the table with two glass of liquid, one red and one blue, on a small tray. A silver pitcher was also there as he set them down upon the table. He swiftly poured the liquid into the empty glass, the color become from silver to a golden hue. "Drink up, you three!" the Latino chuckled, walking back.

Ashley was about to go for the golden glass, but Brian reached her to it. "Take the red one instead," He said, pushing the blue one to Gangrel. "Trust me, it's for the best."

"In other words, you want me to have sadness?" Gangrel said sarcastically. "It's already bad enough that I've been down here for the past 14 years and your wife..." He sighed a bit as he took a sip of his drink, a refreshing splash of wintergreen filled his mouth as tears started to stream down his eyes. "Reminds me of mine..."

"You mean that buxom wench?" A soft baritone voice said from behind. Ashley turned around and was shocked to see a handsome youth with beautiful green eyes dressed in an elaborate dark blue coat embroidered with golden swirls. A red strip of fabric was around his purple and green hair, a pirate hat was on top of it. Aside from a black sash that covered the lower part of his bare torso, he had brown pants and boots. A cutlass was in its hilt upon his belt, and his head was covered in rainbow colored tresses of silver and indigo.

"Are you some sort of pirate?" Ashley asked strangely, noticing the strange attire.

"No," Brian said. "This is Jeffrey Nero, the famous opera singer who died during the rehearsal of "The Flying Dutchman."

"Just call me Jeff," Jeffrey said, shaking Ashley's hand. "So you're Ashley Massaro, Brian's new wife."

"Yeah," Ashley said, uncomfortable at Jeff's appearance. "Jeffrey Nero, I've never heard of that person before."

"Well," Brian explained. "Since Brooklyn—which was Jeffrey's hometown—was a small town, opera wasn't hosted that much. So he decided to make a special performance after coming home to visit from his around the world tour. He was supposed to rehearse with his girlfriend, but she got sick and couldn't make it. So he was practicing at..."

"The Omega theater!" Ashley finished. "Now I remember! It caught on fire just as the Flying Dutchman came in and it didn't stop for two whole days. When it finished, all they found was a couple of discarded scraps of cloth and ashes."

"For the record," Jeff said. "I died of smoke suffocation before the fire burned me alive." He exhaled, smoke escaping his lips. He turned to Gangrel who had just finished the last of his drink. "Now tell me," He continued. "What was your wife's name again? Athena? Diana?"

"Luna!" Gangrel snapped. "We were married for the past 14 years until that day I took some drinks at the party and got killed by a runaway coach."

"How many drinks did you have?" Jeff asked him.

"One." Gangrel replied.

Jeff looked at him strangely.

"Two."

Jeff still stared at him.

"All right!" Gangrel finally answered, burying his face in his hands, the drink taking full effect. "I had at least 5 drinks! Someone must have wanted a death sentence on me! The last thing I saw during my drunken stupor was Luna's face as I started to sleep."

Ashley felt a bit guilty, taking a sip from her drink. The sugary flavor of cherry flavored sweets went down her throat. She then walked toward Gangrel and embraced him. Brian saw this with a look of shock while Jeff started to laugh.

"Heh," Jeff chuckled, sitting on Ashley's seat. "You let her have compassion, didn't you?"

"I thought that was courage!" Brian exclaimed.

"Yeah," came the reply. "But the difference is that if it's ruby red, like that drink was, it's compassion. If it's _blood_ red, then it's courage!"

"Don't mention the word blood to me, Jeff." Brian huffed. "That's the last thing I saw before I died."

Ashley shook her head, clearing out any cobwebs inside. She looked down at Gangrel embracing her and a frown formed on her face. Gangrel noticed the tension and looked up.

"Ehehe," He said meekly. "It was because of the drinks?"

Ashley just backhanded Gangrel once more and stood up, walking toward another table. Brian and Jeff winced at the sound of the force when Ashley hit him. She just huffed as she grabbed another chair from a near table and set it down. She sat on it, and pulled the collar of Brian's tuxedo so his face was close to hers.

"No more mood swing drinks from now on," She said firmly. "I don't want things like that," she pointed to Gangrel who was nursing the wound on his cheek. "Coming up to me."

"Crystal." Brian replied. Ashley released her grip on the collar, looking at Jeff who looked sadly at Brian's goblet. He sighed sadly as took a small sip of it. A small smile formed upon his aged face.

"I wonder how Matt is." A sigh escaped Jeff's lips along with the smoke. "It was sad, I was going to see Matt after I got through with rehearsals; I never got to see him again."

"Matt's not doing well." Ashley said. "If your brother's the kind of people who doesn't talk to other people, keeps muttering to himself that the incident was his own fault, and hasn't seen sunlight for the past 3 years."

"No," Jeff said, the words stinging him, his eyes widened as he took in everything that Ashley said. "Matt couldn't be like that. He's cheery, happy and loves being around people and going outside."

"If he was that type of person, he would've at least said yes to the last ten picnics I wanted to have with him." Ashley said dejectedly. "After the fire, he barely made any contact with the outside world; he's always rambling on, and imagining that you never died. Every day it was like that, he would wake up, set a table for two, and pretended you were still alive."

Jeff's eyes widened, a look of fear on his face. He bowed his head, so no one was able to see the tears starting to fall down. He covered his face with his hands, but it didn't do anything, as many tears started to cascade down his face, and he started to sob loudly.

"Stop being so cruel to him!" Gangrel said, upset at how Ashley's words hurt the singer. "Can't you see that what you said really hurt him?!"

Ashley picked up a nearby pitcher and slammed the bottom on Gangrel's head. She looked really angry as she said to him: "He wanted to know. So stop being negative!"

Gangrel snarled and pushed Ashley toward the wall, his grey eyes beneath his glasses began to glow in anger. "Me being negative! It's you whose the negative one! You just told Jeff that his brother is miserable! And since he's dead it's virtually impossible for him to do anything! Did you think about that?"

Ashley was about to open her mouth, but closed it, bowing her head. "Oh," She said. "I guess not."

"Exactly," Gangrel said, releasing his grip on the bride. "You think that being dead is all good and you go to this place at heaven at the Pearly Gates, huh? Well it isn't! Here in the underworld this is our heaven! The Latino Heat has been here since Guerrero died 6 years ago! This is where we go, and where we shall stay for the rest of our eternal damned lives."

"That's enough out of you both!" Jeff snapped, wiping away his tears. "I think Ashley gets the point."

"I do." Ashley nodded staring at the opera singer sadly. "I really am; I didn't know you would be hurt by all I said. I just wanted you to know what was happening."

Jeff sighed sadly, shaking his head. "Were you the angel of misery sent to torture me?"

"I'm no angel. I'm just alive and it feels so awkward that I'm having a conversation with some zombies; no offense, you two."

"None taken." said Gangrel and Jeff simultaneously.

Brian ignored all of this, sipping the golden drink that was left. In an instant, he didn't taste anything but pure light. It felt like he was glowing, and he felt better than he ever had been. He hadn't felt anything like that since the day he died.

"I just wish that I had been able to understand what happened when I went to the forest." He said, a small smile on his face.

"Speaking of that," Ashley said, turning away from her new 'friends'. "How did you die? Why were you in the forest? Why was your hand sticking out in the snow?"

Everyone stopped and turned around to look at Ashley once more. Ever since Brian's death, no one had ever asked the question on how he died, or what had happened before his death. He kept ignoring the question and avoiding the subject for so long that everyone decided to keep quiet.

"Well," Brian said. "I can't explain it directly, but I bet Jeff can tell you. He's the only one who knows my death."

"Then why didn't the blasted pirate tell us that sooner?" Gangrel said, raising an eyebrow. "You mean to say that Dutch boy here gets to know the whole thing while all of us are left in the dark?"

"Shut it Blondie," Jeff said, pointing his nose in the air. "But in case you haven't noticed, the only reason he told me to do it is because I was having serious writer's block. So he told me his story and challenged me to do it in an alternative style I've never done. If you want I can show it to you."

"That would be interesting, esse." Eddie said. "We haven't heard a new song from you in weeks."

"Finally!" said Hunter. "Something exciting is coming."

"Whee!" exclaimed Maria, who had been recently floating around the entire bar. "Jeffie's going to sing something new!" Everyone soon clamored around any empty seats, as Jeff started to get on the stage.

"Who's the ghost girl?" Ashley said, pointing to Maria.

"That's just Maria," said Brian. "We call her Aria for short. She was the town beauty around ten years ago, and the man she fell in love with had many jealous suitors. They both got killed..."

"Oh." Ashley said softly. She looked back at the stage as a single spotlight pooled over Jeff.

"Everyone," said Jeff. "I would like to present you the story of Brian David Kendrick, our own Death Groom."

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Sorry about the delay! I had lots of homework and studies! But I promise to get new chapters posted soon!


	4. Chapter 4

_I hope everyone was patient! This was a pretty long chapter (due to the song and everything else I added). So everyone sit back and relax and enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the song, but the lyrics are based on it. (The first two italicized lines are my own)_

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The Death Groom chapter 4

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As all of the other lights in the Latino Heat bar started to dim down, light started to wrap around Jeff's body, smoke exhaling from his lips when he took a breath. Everyone started to whisper to each other, excited about what was going to happen and about all of the other performances that Jeff had done before.

The plucking of harp strings brought everyone's attention to the stage as Jeff cleared his throat. "There was once a sweet youth, known from all around." Immediately, the audience started to get shifty, many of them were talking in loud whispers.

"What's going on?" said Ashley talking to Brian. Brian only moaned in annoyance as he saw many of the undead talking louder. Before anything else was said, the music brought everyone's attention onto the stage once more.

"Thank you," Jeff said as the crowd's noise started to die down. "As I said before..."

_There was once a sweet youth, known hither and thou_

_When a young mistress arrived in his midst_

Before he continued on, Brian cleared his throat. The music stopped playing as the spotlights poured over to Brian's figure. Everyone else murmured, wondering in anticipation on the performance.

"Um," Brian said. "It's a good effort, but I doubt anyone aside from you and me and even Vampire Warrior--" Gangrel shot a look at him at the comment. "Is going to get the gist of how I died."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright." He cleared his throat. "God forbid y'all of you should open your minds." The audience started to laugh; Jeff would usually have two 'voices' when he performed, one was his high and mighty opera voice, the other was his 'normal' voice, deep and a bit husky with an "eccentric" accent.

"Did you forget that you, me and the vampire are part of the 5 percent that are educated?" Brian said shaking his head. "Because all of the operas were for the rich and famous, the majority of the whole population were not able to come to see the performances."

"It's not the point, Brian." Jeff said, sitting down on a small wooden stool, crossing his legs. "Opening your mind doesn't mean having an education or being rich. Hell, if I could do this stuff for a living—and I have—then everyone else here would be able to understand this shit by now. I'm just trying to educate them in this stuff."

Brian sighed, Jeff did have a point, and he had to admit that it would be nice to have a chat with someone who understands about the upper class. "If you were trying to educate them, wouldn't you have tried to do it years ago?"

"Not my fault, I've only been here for the past three years so give me break." Brian just sighed once more at that. "Don't forget, whenever I try to recreate all of the scenes in the operas I've done, they don't want to listen or even care!"

"It's not your fault, esse." said Eddie in the crowd. "Don't forget, the most important thing about the dead."

"The one where you don't want people to ask how they died?" Gangrel said sarcastically.

"No," said Eddie. "But that is a good one. It's that that everyone is so used to the life they had above that they're a bit afraid of change, and don't care for anything new."

"All right, all right." said Jeff getting up as he massaged his temples. "I'll do the other song; one in laymens terms. But you better not expect any favors from me for a long time, Brian."

Brian shrugged. "That's okay. We'll be here for a long time anyway."

"Lights!" The lights soon became a nice shade of dark green and blue. Immediately, a beat of wooden blocks and xylophone keys began to play. Following that , a jazzy tune began to play on the piano as everyone in the audience began putting their whole attention on Jeff.

**Jeff**

Hey! Give me a listen you corpses of cheer  
At least those of you who still got an ear  
I'll tell you a story from my own dream loom  
Of our own jubiliciously handsome death groom

At the end of the first line, everyone immediately began to clamor around. Despite not knowing the next lines, the high and lively song soon got everyone in the bar—except Ashley, Brian, and some silent ones—to start singing, now being affected by Jeff's spell.

**Chorus**

Die, die we all pass away  
But don't wear a frown cuz it's really okay  
You might try 'n' hide  
And you might try 'n' pray  
But we all end up the remains of the day

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
Yeah yeah yeah

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

While everyone began cheering, the shadows dancing around the backdrop of the stage began to shapeshift into an image of Brian as Jeff began the first verse.

**Jeff**

Well our boy was a cutie known for miles around  
When a mysterious stranger came into town

She was very good lookin', but down on her cash  
And our poor little boy, well he fell hard and fast

When his daddy said no, he just wouldn't cope  
So our lovers came up with a plan to elope

**Chorus**

Die, die we all pass away  
But don't wear a frown cuz it's really okay  
You might try 'n' hide  
And you might try 'n' pray  
But we all end up the remains of the day

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
Yeah yeah yeah

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

Immediately after the chorus, Jeff conducted the band, beginning a fast and upbeat jazz instrumenta. During that time, everyone else was talking on how well that performance was going. Jeff sat down once more, drinking from a glass that was on a small table. Drinking the contents down, he sighed, smacking his lips.

Ashley looked around, trying to find a way out of the madness while she still had time. As she tried to find the exit, she noticed one of the undead, standing against the wall. He was very handsome—something that she did not say very often—with a near pale complexion, short brown hair, and blue eyes. He was dressed in a dark blue dress blouse and black slacks, going down to a pair of black boots. A belt was what held the black slacks together, and—like almost every other man in the pub, minus some few—he had a slit in his chest.

"Excuse me." said Massaro as she came up to the man. "Is something wrong?" However her words fell on deaf ears, whether it was due to the music being too loud, or that he was simply ignoring the girl was unknown.

"I said, is something wrong?" Ashley said a bit louder but this time, the man turned his whole body away from her. She snarled pulling his arm to turn him around so their eyes met each other. "You know," She continued. "A gentleman knows that when a lady is speaking, they should give their full attention."

The man just pushed her away and walked in the other direction. "Just fuck off." He said.

"Come back here!" Ashley said, but as she was about to run, Jeff was on stage once more, about to sing the next verse. Everyone soon got back to their seats to hear the rest of the song.

**Jeff**

So they conjured up a plan to meet late at night  
They told not a soul, kept the whole thing tight

Now his father's tuxedo fit like a glove  
You don't need much when you're really in love

Except for a few things, or so I'm told  
Like the family jewels and a satchel of gold

Then next to the grave yard by the old oak tree  
On a dark foggy night at a quarter to three

He was ready to go, but where was she?

**0 0 0 0 0 0**

"And then?" Gangrel said, now getting interested in the story Jeff was telling.

"He waited." replied Jeff.

"And then?" Joining alongside Gangrel was the ghost girl Maria.

"There in the shadows, was it his gal?" Jeff added.

"And then?" More anticiaption and shock came when Triple H added in his questioning along with nearly half of the undead.

"His little heart beat so loud." Jeff said, to get the audience.

"And then?" The whole audience—minus Brian and Ashley—soon asked Jeff that question as the shadows in the backdrop showed of Brian screaming as a dark shadow with a blade swooped over him.

"And then folks," he said deeply. "Everything went black."

Everyone gasped at that part, Brian looking at the stage with some sorrow, and maybe regret on his face. Ashley stared at him a bit, wanting to place her hand on his shoulder.

**0 0 0 0 0 0 **

**Jeff**

Now when he opened his eyes, he was dead as dust  
The jewels were missin' and his heart was bust  
So he made a vow lyin' under that tree  
That he'd wait for his true love to come set her free

Always waiting for someone to ask for her hand  
To always be with this groovy young man  
Who vows forever to be by her side  
To then become our own corpse bride

As the last lines came up, at least every member of the audience began to chant the chorus once more.

**Chorus**

Die, die we all pass away  
But don't wear a frown cuz it's really okay  
You might try 'n' hide  
And you might try 'n' pray  
But we all end up the remains of the day

At this, the whole audience clapped and cheered to Jeff. Many dead roses and flowers were soon thrown onto the stage as the opera singer bowed many time.

"Thank you, thank you." He said. "You're all too kind." As he left the stage, Eddie soon picked up the microphone and started to address the crowd.

"Horale, everyone!" He said. "Jeff will be perfoming some old classics for everyone in 10 minutes. Until then, please take the time to have a drink fresh from the bartenders of the Latino Heat, and maybe a snack or two. _Viva la raza!_"

At that everyone started to talk once more, the colorful lights of the bar illuminating the somewhat dreary underworld. Ashley sighed in relief as she began to look for the man that had so rudely told her to leave. Even if she hated the high and pompous, rich and famous types, a gentleman like that she thought, should at least tell her politely to leave.

"Ashley!" Brian said, coming up to her. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothimg much." Ashley said, giving a fake grin at her undead husband. "So what did you think of Jeff's song?"

"I'll tell you one thing," answered Gangrel, sipping from his goblet yet again. "He was way ahead of his own time, too bad the fire got to him first."

"I meant Brian, and not you Dracula." replied Ashley.

"It was good," said Brian, looking back at the stage. "What were your thoughts?"

"That he could've continued the opera and it was very stupid of you for interrupting him in the first place." Ashley said, crossing her arms across her chest.

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_While that's going down there, what about in the upper world? Is there any concern on Ashley's well being at all? Keep reading to find out!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Well, I hope everyone liked my last chapter. I hope everyone is still continue to read and review it!_

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The Death Groom chapter 5

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Meanwhile, in the world above, it was starting to rain. Adam, once again having some sort of change of heart moment, decided to bring John into the Callaway mansion; where both Adam and Amy would be staying until Ashley's return. After being served some scones and warm tea, he smiled happily for the first that had been almost many years ago. The mansion was lightly dimmed, both Mark and Kane were in another room; a chance for them both to get some "alone time" as Sara called it.

Paul looked sadly across the window pane, staring deep into the dropping rain that hit the glass. He felt like such a fool for truly botching the entire rehearsal. He ran a finger down the glass pane, following the rain drops falling down.

Sara noticed her son looking depressed and came up to him. "Paul," she said. "Why not sit with us, and have a cup of tea. I'm sure Ashley will return after a while. She just needs some time alone."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." was the reply, as Paul slowly got up. Giving off a weak smile to Amy and Adam—who only returned by looking away—he sat right next to John, sipping a cup of chamomile tea with honey.

"I don't see what's the big deal," said Amy, fanning herself. "The little wench couldn't even catch a date with the town boys."

"If you weren't so haughty," said Kane. "You would've known all of them were sent to be married but got killed before the wedding could start."

"I can see why." said Adam. "Ashley is a hopeless, depressed, moody, selfish and whiny bitch that needs attention to be taken care of."

John heard this and slamed his cup of tea onto the table, glaring at the couple. "How dare you!" He said. "You're just sitting here on your asses, not giving a damn on your own daughter--"

"For the last time!" Adam snapped, standing up. "She! Is! Not! Our! Daughter!"

"So what?!" John stood up, fury on his face. "You're her guardians! You're supposed to help her! You're supposed to be there, during a dark time in her life and all you're doing is sipping tea like those high and mighty pricks!"

"Take that back!" Adam yelled, throwing himself onto John. Immediately, the two were rolling on the ground fighting, throwing punches and what not. Paul tried to break it up, but was thrown out of the scuffle, and onto the wall.

"Take that you son of a bitch!" said Adam, raking John's eyes. John retaliated by kicking Adam off of him, immediately standing up. Adam could only back into a corner while the meancing figure of John coming towards him, a dark look in his eyes.

"You're going to pay for all your crimes." was the reply in a cold voice. John cracked his knuckles as Adam visibly gulped. However, as he rose his fist, he started to cough violently. Blood started to spill from his lips as he got on his knees.

"Oh my god." Sara gasped, seeing John's condition. "We have to help him!"

"It's common," said Amy, as if she had seen this many times. "He just coughs some blood, then after a while, it stops."

"It's not common!" said Paul, pulling Amy to meet his gaze. "You don't let someone like him just slowly wait for Death's arrival by not helping him! It's no wonder no one ever gave a damn for you!"

Amy snarled, pulling her arm away from the Latino. "I do have someone who loves me!" She yelled. "At least we'll be together and live in luxury, unlike you and that blonde whore of yours!"

"That's it!" boomed a voice. The doors soon burst open, revealing both Mark and Kane, both of them not happy. Everyone stared at the two, none of them saying a word.

"I've had a hard time now that we lost _another _suitor for Paul," growled Mark. "And we were kind enough to let some extra guests into our house. But I will not tolerate any rough housing while I am still here. Understand?!"

John, took a deep breath to clear his throat. "Yes sir." He replied quickly. Both he and Adam, stood up, and slouched upon the faded couches in the room.

"Well," muttered Kane. "There goes another wedding down the drain. At the rate this goes, we're definetly going into the poorhouse."

"Don't worry," said Sara. "I'm sure things will get better. Ashley will come back, I'm sure of it."

"Oh I wouldn't bother with that." Everyone turned around as they saw Lady Perez enter, a devious smile on her face. "After what you hear, you should just give up."

"Oh, Lady Perez." said Sara. "I do hope you are comfortable in your quarters. Is the room to your liking?"

"Indeed," Perez replied, bowing her head. "And I truly hate to be the bearer of bad news; I truly do not wish to rain on this parade any more than it already has. But, alas, I must tell this tragic tiding."

Entering the room was the town cryer Michael Cole, with bell in hand. He gulped a bit, seeing everyone around him staring directly at him.

"Well, then." said Perez, in a soft but serious tone. "Carry on."

"Um, yes." said Cole, starting to ring the bell. "Here ye! Here ye!" He yelled, his voice being so loud, that it started to shake the foundation of the mansion. "Mistress Ashley seen taken away by a mysterious man upon the town bridge! The pale skinned demon and Ashley then disappeared into the evening!"

After that, he cleared his throat, and stopped his bell from ringing. "And now for the weather, small showers--"

"Enough!" said Perez. "You may leave now." She brought out a small coin and placed it in the town cryer's hand. "And have a little something for yourself."

"Thank you very much." said Cole, tipping his hat. He soon left, leaving the whole mansion in silence, left there to take in the information given to them.

Perez looked at Paul, a smirk creeping through her face. "Oh, and do call me for assistance. In any way." She closed the doors as she left.

Sara ran to Mark, embracing him, as if she was afraid of letting go. "What are going to do, Mark?" She said.

Mark just let his hand run across his wife's back, a sad look on his face as he embraced her. "I don't know," He said. "I just don't know."

"I have a suggestion," Kane said, staring at Adam and Amy. "You can start by getting your asses outside and find her."

"Hell no!" said Adam. "I'm not going to go in the rain and risk myself getting pneumonia for that gi--"

"No girl, no wedding." said Kane. "No wedding, and no fortune, remember?"

Adam was about to say something, but kept his mouth shut. He was right. When Ashley got married, then the fortunes would be accessible to the legal guardians. As long as Ashley was gone, they were still poor.

"Fine." said Adam. He didn't like the idea of having to wait for their 'daughter' to come to them. But she was their only hope on getting them to the higher realms of society.

"Excellent," said Kane. "You have until dawn to find her. And if she is not in the mansion by the time the sun rises..."

He cracked his knuckles in front of the couple. "I can have some fun with the two of you."


	6. Chapter 6

The Death Groom chapter 6

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Ashley smiled to herself, gulping down a drink that was given to her as a reward for helping Gangrel out (after all it was her fault that he was like that in the first place). Eddie had made her a drink known as a Zombie, which was—if it wasn't already—as good as the El Manana drink. She slammed the glass on the table, smacking her lips to drink in any liquid was left. Despite the fact that she didn't like being here, she was starting to like the benefits that came with being in the underworld; and her "wedding" to a corpse.

"This is the life!" she said, putting her shoes on the table, leaning back. "No parents to nag me, no dreary and boring town, and best of all, no stupid--"

"Hey!" said Brian, interrupting Ashley. "How do you like it here?"

"Well," said Ashley, changing her tone of voice. "It's okay, I guess."

"So," said Brian, looking down. "You have any questions about the Underworld?"

"Yeah, I do." said Ashley, pointing to a corner of the bar. "That Batista guy, what ever happened to him?"

"He got jilted by his bride to be around 6 years ago," said Brian sadly. "The guy has been a bit shattered ever since."

"You mean he's going to hurt me if I go to him?" gulped Ashley, not wanted to literally be stuck in the underworld for the rest of her life.

"No, he's a big softie on the inside but he won't show it." Ashley giggled a bit at the thought.

"Then he's as bad as I thought." Ashley sighed as she looked at Jeff on the stage. "Maybe I was wrong about this place after all."

"Boo!" Said a voice from behind. The blonde looked to find Maria smiling at her and having a good time. "Hi, I'm Maria. Wanna be friends?"

"Um," said Ashley. "What about your other friends?"

At that, Maria looked at her sadly, bowing her head. "Well, my 'friends' were the one that killed me when they found out Punk chose me. When my back was turned, they stabbed me with daggers and burnt my body to the ground. That's why I'm a ghost."

"I'm so sorry," Ashley said, wrapping her arms as best as she could around the ghost. "I'll be your friend."

"You promise?" Ashley nodded, a genuine smile on her face.

"I promise." Maria smiled and hugged her new best friend, tears of joy pouring from her eyes.

"Thank you!" she said. "I'll never forget you even when _you_ die, then we'll always be best friends forever!" She released the embrace as she started to soar across the whole bar. "Wait here! I'll find Punk for you!"

As she left, Brian smiled at his bride. "You know, that was a very kind thing for you to do."

"Yeah, I guess it was." was Ashley's reply. "If I was her, I would also be a bit lonely that my friends betrayed me."

"Not only your friends, but maybe your parents too." The two looked up, to see a tall handsome youth looking at them. "That's what they did to me when I was still alive, and why I'm in this condition."

"Hey!" said Ashley, standing up. "You're the guy who told me to fuck off back there! What right do you have to say that to a lady."

"Oh I'm so sorry," said the man sarcastically. "You should know that when a person needs to be alone, you should leave them alone!"

"I'll leave you alone, alright." Ashley, picked up one of the knives on the table and brought it out. The rest of the undead saw what was going on and gasped in surprise. "I'm going to make sure that you're alone picking yourself up!"

"That's enough!" Said Brian, gripping onto the sharp end of the knife. Since he was dead, then he didn't feel any pain as blood started to flow down his hands. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

"Some son of a bitch who needs to be taught a lesson?" said Ashley dropping the knife onto the floor.

"That son of a bitch is named Randy." said Brian. "He's the youngest son of a prominent family in the country."

"Yeah," Ashley answered back sarcastically. "I would know more of who he was if I knew his last name!"

"My name," said Randy. "Is Randall Keith Orton, upcoming heir to the throne."

"He would've been if he didn't die." Brian added.

"I didn't die, I was also murdered." Randy muttered. "Get the facts straight."

"Well, sorry." said Brian. "If you actually talked more then I think people would actually understand what happened to you in the upper world."

"I don't want to talk about what happened back there!" Randy snapped. "I lost John after all of this trouble; he must think I'm a fool for not able to tell him that I died." He bowed his head sadly, looking at his sad expression in the reflection of one of the drinks. "I couldn't tell him good-bye; I wanted him to know that I would be okay, even if he were to be left to insanity, if he could only keep his memory of me alive, then I would be glad." At that, a small tear slid down his cheek, rippling upon the contents of the drink.

"Wait a minute," said Ashley, snapping her fingers, as to help her remember something. It clicked in her mind when she remembered talking to John about losing someone he truly loved. "This John you're speaking of, did he have the last name of Cena?"

Randy's eyes widened as he shakily stared into Ashley's eyes. "H-how do you know of his name?" He asked, a bit frightened.

"I know him because he works for me at my house." She said. "He was found on the streets a year ago, as if he saw death, and we brought him in. And, he and I have become friends, although--"

"Although what?" Everyone was also started to get interested in the conversation. Many of them were whispering amongst themselves, taking a glance at Randy as they did. Everyone knew him as the 'silent' one, he rarely talked, and most of them immediately wanted him in Hell due to his cold nature. But it never crossed their mind on why he kept that cold attitude, as they had become accustomed to telling them all to "fuck off."

Ashley's eyes darted nervously around the room, as she drummed her fingers on the table. "Before I continue, can you tell me how you and John actually met?"

Randy looked at her sadly, sighing. "It was around three years ago. I had slipped away from my lessons to go around the market square. It was then I had met him; he was running away from a couple of thieves for pickpocketing them, but he was very sick and collapsed not that far away from where I saw him. As the thieves were about to strike, I intervened, paying the men the amount of money equal to the food. Once they left, I stared into the young man's eyes and, I fell in love."

"But what about that law?" said Ashley. "The one about no men of the same gender cannot be married? Even you couldn't bypass that law."

"I know," Randy said. "I know it was against the law for marriage, but nothing about visiting him. And that's what I did; every night I came to visit John and his family of four brothers, giving them enough money for them to survive. Or sometimes, John and I would go and talk while watching the night sky. But then, one day it happened..."

"What happened?" said Brian, almost in tears.

Randy bowed his head, tears already brimming his eyes. "I took him to a nearby tavern, because I was arranging for a secret marriage for the two of us. We would run away from the village and live together forever. Unfortunately, we became intoxicated after two drinks, that we were soon at John's house, on a bed..."

"Oh," said Ashley, understanding what was going on. "John never told me that part."

"The next morning," Randy continued. "After a bad hangover, we were soon assaulted by my father's bodyguards, and the majority of the town. We found out later that the bartender was working hand in hand with my parents. They dragged John immediately to the town square, where he was whipped and beaten badly while the whole town jeered him. They were going to execute him until I intervened. I told the crowd that I was the one responsible for our sexual intercourse, and told my father to spare John's life."

"And he accepted it," said Ashley. "But the stipulations..."

"Were that he had to be a fifty foot radius away from me," Randy added. "And that my parents chose the person to marry. But then...the night before our marriage, we went to the forest. I went ahead first, to get a head start. But suddenly, I felt something and in an instant...I was killed."

"I'm so sorry," said Ashley, looking slightly guilty for not telling Randy the truth. She knew what was happening, but it she was now afraid that if she said the news, he would be crushed.

"It's not fair!" Randy yelled, kicking a table down. "I loved John! Why couldn't my parents understand the truth?! Why didn't anyone understand?"

"Because they don't want to believe." said Gangrel, amongst the crowd. "They turned their eyes away to stuff that they do not believe in. Because of that, they only think of facing it by just putting it down. They don't care what the consequences are to the people who are affected by it; they just want to go on with what they believe in, and what's 'not there'."

Randy then looked at Ashley, tears streaming his face. "How is he?" He asked her. "How's John?"

Ashley's eyes began to dart across the room again, sweat pouring from her face. "He's, um...."

"How is he?" Randy said, gripping onto her shoulders, shaking her. "Please I must know, I need to know!"

Ashley swallowed hard, placing her hands upon Randy's face, . "Do you want truly to know?"

"Please!" Randy begged. "I must know."

Ashley looked at him sadly. "Well, before I ask, are you sincerely sure? What I might say could make you upset like what happened to Jeff."

"I just want John to be happy, and even if I was dead, that he'd continue on." Randy said, looking desperate for the news.

Ashley then took a deep breath. "He's a nice guy, always helping out along the house, even if my parents don't treat him very well. But his health isn't too good, he's been coughing a lot, and I'm worried about him. He doesn't mind that he's sick, he just keeps smiling all the time, despite what's happening to his body. My parents won't pay for the medicine to cure his illness, as if they truly don't care for him."

"But, after one whole day with us, he started screaming. He kept screaming and screaming about something; I thought I would never see something like that in my whole life. My parents tried to beat some sense into him, but nothing worked, until I came in and hugged him. Maybe the thought of having someone giving him love was enough to break him out of that trance. And eventually, he kept screaming every night; in fact, he screamed so loud that he became hoarse for a couple of days."

"What was he screaming about though?" said Maria, hiding behind Gangrel. "Did he have some sort of nightmare? I usually do whenever I try to sleep down here."

"Well," said Ashley. "I never asked him personally, but sometimes, whenever I go visit him, I hear him say stuff."

"Like...what?" Gangrel gulped a bit, he was usually never into people's business, but the thought of Ashley having to live with some sort of madman gave him shivers. Wait a minute, he thought to himself. Me having feelings for someone like her? Impossible!

"He keeps saying like 'It's my fault' and 'I couldn't save him'." Randy's eyes widened a bit, releasing his grip on Ashley.

"Oh no," He whispered. "He knows..."

"Knows about what?" said Ashley, helping Randy stand up. "What's happened to my friend?"

But before Randy could begin to speak, a loud coughing filled the room. Ashley stood on one of the chairs to get a better look, but the sound was covered amongst the sea of undead.

Jeff, who was on the stage as Ashley told her story looked up. "Clearing your throat, Christy?"

"Yeah," said a voice through the crowd. "Just continue the story." Ashley nodded when she heard that.

"Anyway, Randy." she continued, sitting down. "You were say--" Once again, the same coughing had interrupted her. The blonde was starting to get annoyed that she was being interrupted.

"Sorry!" the voice said once more.

"Just ignore it," Brian whispered into Ashley's ear. "Ignore it and continue."

Nodding her head, Ashley took a deep breath. "So, now that that's out of the way--" For the third time, the coughing appeared again. That was it, she thought. In anger she got up, and pushed some of the undead to make way.

"All right!" She said, going through the crowd. "Who's the one that has half a mind to interrupt me when--" She stopped when the crowd dispersed, showing a young man around her age, with blonde hair and blue eyes. His attire was a white blouse and black pants, similar to the one Gangrel was wearing. But that wasn't what Ashley was noticing; it was the blood flowing down his mouth that horrified her.

"Wh-who are you?" Some fear was in the bride's voice. "Why are you coughing blood? And, why do you look like my father, Adam?"

"My name is Christian," the man replied, more blood spilling down his mouth. "And in case you could tell from the blood streaming down my mouth, I died from consumption."

"Consumption?" Ashley quirked an eyebrow at that, and subtly backed away when she saw droplets of blood coating the floor.

"It's scientifically known as Tuberculosis." Christian explained, wiping away the blood from his mouth. "Although that name hasn't caught on with the mortal world."

"Okay..." said Ashley, confused.

"Wait a minute," Christian said, standing up. "Which Adam are you referring to?"

"Um, Adam Copeland." She said, nervously.

"That doesn't make sense." He said, observing Ashley. "You look to old to be his daughter."

"I'm only 17," she said. "When my parents died 7 years ago, I was taken to him as a surrogate guardian." She paused for a moment. "Wait a minute, how do you know Adam Copeland?"

"Because," said Christian, looking at Ashley, blood dripping onto his arms. "Adam Copeland is my brother."


	7. Chapter 7

The Death Groom-Chapter 7

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Ashley stared at Christian with more shock, her knees buckling from the surprising sentence that left the man's mouth. "H-how can that be?"

"Well," said Christian. "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much--"

"Don't give me the birds and the bees!" Ashley snapped, pounding her fist into Christian's hair. "I didn't come for that talk; I came to you to ask about why you are Adam's brother."

"Oh, that's easy." said Christian, blood spilling from his mouth. "Adam's my older brother, Adam and I were twins."

"I understand that part." said Ashley in reply. "But can you tell me at the least on why your brother is acting like the selfish bastard he is?"

Christian sighed sadly, wiping the blood spilling down his mouth once more.

"He was never like this," he explained. "When we were younger he was happy, looking at the bright side of things and was very fun-loving. Because of our matching blonde hair, the two of us were nicknamed 'Twin Suns' by the rest of the village."

Ashley closed her eyes, concentrating on the the personality of her father's younger days. All she got were the harsh words that spat out of his lips and all of the memories of him snapping at anyone else—except Amy that is—were echoing through her head.

Shaking her head, Ashley replied, "Sorry, I got nothing."

"Just a minute there," said Gangrel, turning around, staring at Christian. "If _**you**_ knew what was wrong with your twin brother, why didn't you say anything when she was talking to me earlier on?

"Well," said Christian. "Because I didn't want her to figure out on what made Adam so mean."

"Can you tell us?" said Brian walking up to the blond. "Since Ashley is my wife, then I must know everything about her guardians. And, after all, you are considered her uncle."

"Fine," said Chrstian, clearing his throat. "Well, it all started when we were both nine years old, playing in the backyard with our ball. After a couple of minutes of tossing the ball to each other, I missed catching it and it bounced onto the road. I went up to pick it up, but as I did so, a runaway carriage was coming towards me. I couldn't move, but at the last moment, Adam pushed me out of the way as I saw his own head being run over by the wheels."

Everyone gasped as Christian smiled sadly, recalling the memory. Ashley could only gasp in horror when she pictured the event in her mind.

"But he made it okay, right?" asked Ashley. Christian nodded his head in reply.

"He was bleeding from back of his head the head, and got a minor concussion." Christian continued. "He made a full recovery; however, after that accident he became different."

"Different?" Jeff repeated, now becoming interested in the story.

"He seemed to have a terrible concept and disdain for everyone else." Christian replied sadly. "Everyone execept me of course. When we were alone Adam would act the same before the whole accident happened. And then, I died."

"That doesn't make sense," Ashley said. "If he had so much hatred for everyone else, why were you the only one unaffected?"

Christian shrugged his shoulders once more. "I never found that out. Maybe he was angry at the world that he nearly got killed by a runaway carriage. Or maybe I was the only remainder of all of the happy times we had.

"And I guess when I finally died in front of his eyes, I took away all of the remaining happiness and optimism with me. I didn't die quickly either due to my sickness; I had to die slowly and waste away getting weaker and weaker with every passing day. There was nothing that he, my parents, or anyone could to about it."

"Then how did you truly die?" said Hunter, sitting two tables away from the blonde.

"It happened seventeen years ago; eight years after Adam became mean." Christian explained. "My brother wanted to show me a part of the forest that he called a fairy's grotto. During the trip, Adam carried me down to the forest as he settled me down to the patch of trees. It was...so beautiful. There was sunlight peeking through the leaves of the trees and fresh green grass and flowers crunched beneath the weight of my body. Birds and butterflies surrounded us as Adam laid his own body next to mine.

"He wanted to take me there many more times...and that's when I asked him, 'What would happen to you if I left?" Adam explained that he couldn't imagine that I would be gone from his life and that he wanted to spend every moment with me. I smiled and said to him, 'I'm glad you feel that way' and he realized what was going on. Then I looked back at the sun one more time as my eyes began to close. As they did, I could see a glimpse of Adam screaming my name, as to wake me up."

At the end of the story, the majority of the undead began to cry, trying to cover their tears with their skeletal hands. Maria was sobbing the most, tears passing through her ghostly face as she blew her nose upon her transparent dress. Hunter only could stare in shock in hearing poor Christian's tale. Jeff, still on the stage had let a tear cascade down his face;

feeling the same pain of his older brother losing him. Gangrel—just like Hunter—could only stare with some shock, and a bit of remorse for the boy; until he found his eyes watering with tears, as if his once beating heart was crying for Christian.

Ashley's mascara smeared her light skin, her tears staining her dress. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't know you were in so much pain."

"And now you know." said Christian, with some sadness. Ashley nodded, covering her mouth with her hand.

Brian placed a hand on Ashley's shoulder, smiling sadly. "Please don't cry Ashley." He said to her in a soft tone. "You look so miserable when those tears stain your adorable face."

Ashley only blushed as Brian's soothing voice got to her. She nodded, and wiped her eyes.

"Speaking of that," said Christian. "How's Adam been doing above?"

Ashley cringed when she heard Christian ask that. She really did not want to say anything bad about her 'father'. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that was to best describe him.

"Well," she started off. "He's annoying, mean, aggressive, prone to yelling at me for no particular reason, has a complete abhorrence for me, would sometimes lock me up in my room for hours, destroys anything I have that is precious to me--" Before she could say antying else, tears streamed from her eyes once more. "That bastard has ruined my life!"

"What?" said Brian in shock. Then, anger became engraved onto his face. "How dare he try to hurt you, my wife. When he takes his final breath, I and the rest of the undead will make sure he has his eternal suffering. No one as beautiful and spirited as you should have to go through this torture."

"That's right!" said Maria. "No one hurts my best friend and gets away with it!"

With that, everyone in the bar started to show their support for Ashley. Through it all, the young bride could hear the undead talking to themselves.

"She does not deserve such punishment! She was kind enough to heal Gangrel, she had the courage to stand up to Randall and she gave Maria a friend!"

"That young girl is a rare beauty; it's a shame her father abuses her!"

"We should go and kill that man!"

"Guys, I'm not really that beautiful at all." said Ashley, trying to break through the whispering. "I'm just a...plain old village girl in the eyes of my parents and everyone else."

"No, you're not." said Randy, who surprisingly shocked everyone when he responded to Ashley's statement. "In my eyes, you look lieka girl who died a quiet death or one who got suffocated under a pillow. You're beautiful just the way you are."

Ashley blushed; no one had ever called her that before—well, no one alive anyway. The thought of having that compliment just amazed her and made her smile a bit.

"You see?" said some of the undead. "This is why we have to kill that evil bastard; so that she can smile again!"

Everyone started to cheer at the idea, thoughts of revenge were in the mind. It seemed at that moment for Ashley that these people were her family, albeit a strange undead family.

"HOLD IT!" Eddie's voice screeched, interrupting everyone's thoughts. "We can't go and kill him!"

"And why the hell not?!" Gangrel snapped at him. "The girl's been through a living hell and we can't do anything to help her?!"

"You know the rules!" Eddie barked back. "If we go the land of the living, then we won't have any power to kill a man who is mortal! Once he's dead then we can kill him but he's still a living human."

That made everyone pause and murmur amongst themselves. The doctrines of the living made it impossible for the dead to attack—or to the most extremes—kill someone amongst the living. That would bring back pandemonium, chaos, and the undead citizen would be cast into the pits of Hell for doing such a crime. It was to make sure that the dead did not interfere with the lives of the world above.

"Well, maybe there's another way." said Maria, her voice cutting through the silence. "If **we **can't kill him, why not make him kill himself?"

Everyone turned to Maria, as if she had something all over her face.

"What?" asked Maria. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Actually...you just gave us a brilliant idea!" said Jeff.

"I did?" asked Maria. "Really?"

"Jeff's right." said Hunter. "If we can't lay our hands upon him, then we'll just haunt him enough so he goes insane and dies! Sure the process will take longer than usual, but it'll be worth it when I bash him in the head with my sledgehammer."

"'Sledgehammer'?" asked Ashley. "Are you sure that's not a bit...extreme?"

"Desperate times sometimes call for extreme measures, miss." Hunter answered back. "And this is one of those times for extreme measures."

"Christian," said Brian. "Can you go take Ashley to see some of the sites? I'll go see Elder Flair about some sort of potion that could help us out."

"Sure, Bri." said Christian before letting out a loud cough. Blood escaped his mouth and hit the floor like pellets, making Ashley cringe a bit in disgust. Once his throat was cleared, Christian took Ashley's hand into his own, standing up from his chair. "

"Do you mind?" asked Christian. Ashley shook her head now. "Well then...let's go."

Ashley had a look of uneaseinss, but shrugged it off as Christian ran with her through the crowd of undead. They all chered for Ashley as she soon disappeared out of site.

Through the sea of anomorous corpses, Eddie let out a sigh. Never in his undead life had he seen the crowd so happy; it was if Ashley had some secret power inside her.

And whatever it was, he just hoped it was hear to stay.

**0 0 0 0 0 0 0**

"Hiya, Phil!" said Christian, waving to one of the passerbys. "How you doing?"

"Fine, I guess." Phil answered back. Even with his white ghost like appearance, he looked as if he was dressed in a white tuxedo—with black X's at the sleeves—except that he had a wound on his chest, as if he was stabbed.

"You shoyuld check on Maria, you know." said Christian. "Thanks to Ashley here, she's actually been able to smile again."

"Really?" asked Phil. "Oh my god, that's awesome!"

"It is?" asked Ashley.

"Do you know what it was like for her to be harassed and teased by most of the other girls in the village?" asked Phil. "I don't know what kind of beef those girls had on Maria, but it hurt her. She seemed as if she was the happiest girl in the whole village, but when you really got to her...she would cry for hours. Poor Maria; she never deserved any of the treatment."

"But thanks to Ashley, Maria's found a friend!" said Christian. "And Maria thought of a way to help get rid of Ashley's father."

"That's good to hear." said Phil, with a smile. "Dear Ashley, I am forever in your debt in making Maria smile. If you need me, then call my name and I shall be there."

"Ghosts have the ability to travel freely from the world of the living and world of the dead." Christian explained. "The only time they have no choice but to come is when there are magic spells and amulets and all of that crap. But either than that, the minority of the popluation are ghosts, and many people are envious on their ability to go to the human world."

"All you have to do is whistle, and I shall be there." said Phil, bowing to Ashley. "Whether it above or below, I shall make sure you are protected."

"Um, thanks." said Ashley. "I hope to see you...later."

Phil smiled and soon vanished within the blink of an eye. Ashley stared in shock for a minute before turning to Christian.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that part." said Christian in reply. "They also can disappear any time they want; most of them do it for kicks, though."

"Nice to let me know about that." said Ashley as the two continued to meet up with some of the other residents. There was Chris Benoit and his family (Christian explained that Benoit hung himself after smothering his mother and daughter with pillows), Owen Hart (who fell to his death when he was around 15 in an attempt to prove to his brothers that he conquered his fear of heights), and Brian Pillman (he was known as the village crazy man for his stunts; ironically that was what killed him). All the while, Ashley started to feel at peace with herself. She was with people who accepted her, and she was with people who had to go through a hell like what she had to go through.

"Here we are." said Christian, pointing to a hill. There was a lamp post and bench leaning against the wall of some building, the light helping to alleviate some of the gloom set by the dreay atmosphere. "Doesn't this view take your breath away?"

Ashley looked down, and gasped. It was beautiful; greys and blacks mixed with many other colored hues to show a parade of lights flickering like fireflies. She didn't know what was going on there, but she wanted to be there and experience everything.

"It's beautiful." She whispered. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"Has it love?" asked a voice. Ashley turned around to see Brian walk toward her, a giftbox in his hand. Ashley could only blush as she nodded her head.

"Yeah...it is." She replied. She then noticed the box in Brian's hands. "What's this?"

Brian smiled and opened the lid, as a skeleton bird appeared. It let out a soft 'coo' and landed on Ashley's shoulder. If it wasn't for the fact that it was sort of cute, Ashley might've pushed the thing away from her.

"I remember you." She said to the dove. "You're Hope!"

"Yep." said Christian. "That's what EVERYONE in this palce needs, hope."

"No, I named the dove Hope." said Ashley. "When I was little, this little bird would come to me as a way to cheer me up. It was like that when I started living with Adam and Amy...but then...it stopped showing up. I searched for it everywhere, I tossed bread crums onto the road, I placed seeds on the windowsill...but she never showed up. It wasn't until later that I found out that Adam 'accidentally' attacked it while he was out doing shopping."

"That bastard." said Brian, gritting his teeth in anger. "He shall pay for harming you!"

He took Ashley's hand, eyes full of determination as he stated, "We are off to see Elder Flair!"

**0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0**

A room shelved with hundreds of books, filled with stacks of paper, smelling of something musty and ancient. That was what Ashley felt when she entered Elder Flair's library. The man was asleep on a desk, dressed in a black robe with blue feathers. He didn't look as old as some of the other members of the undead—he had most of his presumed to be blonde hair and only his arms were skeleton bones—but as Brian stated, "Looks can be deceiving."

"Elder Flair." said Brian, walking toward the snoring man. "Elder Flair?"

"W-wha? Who's calling me?" asked Elder Flair slowly waking up. He then saw Brian stare at him. "Well, hello Brian; what brings you up here to day?"

Brian smiled. "I'm married." He answered. "I would like to introduce you to my wife, Ashley."

"Er...hi?" asked Ashley, the dove on her shoulder also cooing a hello.

"Whoo!" cried Flair when he saw Ashley. "Well, nice to meet you also! A friend of Brian is a friend of mine! Now what do you need?"

"A spell to get us to the world of the living." said Brian. "We've got some business to take care of."

"Now why would you like to go up there, when everyone wants to go down here?" asked Flair with a laugh. "Kids these days..."

"It's to say good bye to my parents." said Ashley in reply. "They don't know that I'm wed...so it should be a good idea that they know I'm okay..."

"Hmmm..." said Flair, rubbing his chin. "Then what you need is a Haunting Spell. It's hard to brew, and hauntings are usually taken care by bored ghosts. But in this case, I'll make an exception."

He whistled as a black raven appeared to his side, grasping onto a basket full of ingredients. It let out a caw as Flair brought out what he was looking for, a black orb swirling with energy.

"You can stay as long as you like up there." Flair explained. "But you have to follow a certain set of rules. First of all, when you're up there, you are still under the rules of the undead. That means you cannot attack and kill the living."

"Got it." said Brian. "Same rules apply above."

"And second." said Flair. "To come back down here, all you have to do is say the word, 'Nevermore.'"

"'Nevermore?'" Ashley repeated.

"That's it!" said Elder Flair. "Now hold tight!"

He cracked the orb like it was an egg, then opened it. Soon a dark black mist bellowed from the shells of the orb, before pouring down on the couple. Then, they were encased with the chocking fog...


End file.
